In a stellar debut, Cox expands his Washington Post series on the invisible wounds of children damaged by gun violence, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.In 2016, after the fatal shooting of a classmate at her South Carolina school, 7-year-old Ava Olsen was so traumatized that she developed severe PTSD. She even used stickers to cover up the "scary words" in Little House on the Prairie: "gun, fire, blood, kill." In this powerful report on the emotional scars left by gun violence, Cox argues that Ava is one of millions of American children "who weren't shot and aren't considered victims by our legal system but who have, nonetheless, been irreparably harmed by the epidemic." With deep sympathy for his young subjects, he probes the roots of-and possible solutions to-the crisis, taking sharp aim at the $3 billion school security market, which exploits parental fears by touting products of unproven worth, such as "$150 bulletproof backpacks." But the beating heart of the narrative consists of the heart-rending stories of vulnerable children. Ava's pen pal Tyshaun McPhatter wouldn't let his mother wash a sweatshirt worn by his father, murdered in Washington, D.C., so he'd remember the scent. Her schoolmate Siena Kibilko, prepared for another shooting, had picked out a hiding spot at school "where she just knew the gunman wouldn't think to look." Especially moving is the story of Ava's 6-year-old superhero-loving classmate, Jacob Hall, killed in the shooting at her school and laid out at his funeral in a Batman costume, mourned at the church by friends dressed in his honor as Captain America and other superheroes. Cox analyzes the gun crisis astutely, but his surpassing achievement in this eloquent book is to let children speak for themselves about their grief. Put this one on a shelf with Alex Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here-and have a box of tissues handy.An indispensable contribution to the debate about gun violence.

In a stellar debut, Cox expands his Washington Post series on the invisible wounds of children damaged by gun violence, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.In 2016, after the fatal shooting of a classmate at her South Carolina school, 7-year-old Ava Olsen was so traumatized that she developed severe PTSD. She even used stickers to cover up the "scary words" in Little House on the Prairie: "gun, fire, blood, kill." In this powerful report on the emotional scars left by gun violence, Cox argues that Ava is one of millions of American children "who weren't shot and aren't considered victims by our legal system but who have, nonetheless, been irreparably harmed by the epidemic." With deep sympathy for his young subjects, he probes the roots of-and possible solutions to-the crisis, taking sharp aim at the $3 billion school security market, which exploits parental fears by touting products of unproven worth, such as "$150 bulletproof backpacks." But the beating heart of the narrative consists of the heart-rending stories of vulnerable children. Ava's pen pal Tyshaun McPhatter wouldn't let his mother wash a sweatshirt worn by his father, murdered in Washington, D.C., so he'd remember the scent. Her schoolmate Siena Kibilko, prepared for another shooting, had picked out a hiding spot at school "where she just knew the gunman wouldn't think to look." Especially moving is the story of Ava's 6-year-old superhero-loving classmate, Jacob Hall, killed in the shooting at her school and laid out at his funeral in a Batman costume, mourned at the church by friends dressed in his honor as Captain America and other superheroes. Cox analyzes the gun crisis astutely, but his surpassing achievement in this eloquent book is to let children speak for themselves about their grief. Put this one on a shelf with Alex Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here-and have a box of tissues handy.An indispensable contribution to the debate about gun violence.

Washington Post reporter Cox debuts with a hard-hitting report on the impact of gun violence on American children. Noting that, on average, a child is shot every hour in the U.S. and that 30,000 kids and teenagers have been killed by guns in the last 10 years, Cox argues that America is in the midst of a public health crisis. The story of pen pals Ava Olsen, who lost her friend and first-grade classmate in a school shooting in 2016, and Tyshaun McPhatter, whose father was killed in 2017, illuminates both the emotional trauma of gun violence and the healing power of friendship for its youngest victims. Cox also explains how the NRA pressures lawmakers to reject gun control measures that have broad public support, details the rise of a $3 billion school safety industry, and debunks myths about school shooters and the effectiveness of teaching gun safety to children. His solutions include universal background checks, increased funding for research into the causes of gun violence, and child access prevention laws. Balancing sound research with moving profiles of victims and activists, Cox makes an impeccable case for how to solve the problem and why it-s essential to do so now. Agent: David McCormick, McCormick Literary. (Mar.)